The unexpected rewards of volunteering

Being a cancer survivor, 66-year-old Ms Mary Lye shared that many had assumed, “how unfortunate to have been to be diagnosed with cancer”. But to Ms Lye, the experience has enlightened and taught her so much more than regarding it as just an unfortunate event.

 

Here is a little background about Ms Lye: She is a qualified nurse. In 1977, she was among the first batch nurses that were seconded to Singapore Fire Brigade to set up the Emergency Ambulance Service and worked alongside firemen on ambulance runs to render emergency treatment to accidents and medical emergency victims.

 

From 1999 to 2001, Ms Lye was a volunteer at the Singapore Cancer Society, as she manned the counselling hotline and provided Hospice Home visits to terminally ill cancer patients. She stopped when she resumed her full-time work as a Regional Business Development personnel in private healthcare.

 

After Ms Lye was diagnosed with cancer, she chose to retire early to set up a Healthcare Consultancy, providing cancer counselling and helping to connect regional patients with appropriate healthcare providers in Singapore. This start-up was initiated because she wanted to help as many people as she could to seek correct treatment modalities, which brings her to why she decided to volunteer at RSVP Singapore. Ms Lye have witnessed so many incidents where people tend to be very hesitant when it comes to Persons with Mental Health Issues, so she thought to herself that if everyone is hesitant then nobody is going to help these people.

 

Since Ms Lye’s involvement in the Mentally Disadvantaged Outreach Programme (MDOP) at Bethesda CARE Centre 242 (BCARE 242), Anglican Care Centre @ Hougang (ACC HG), and the reading session at Mobile library Institute of Mental Health (IMH), she has witnessed so many changes in the clients. Once, Ms Lye encountered a client at a foodcourt where she was dining. Her client came to her and said loudly, “Auntie Mary! I found a job. I am working already and I am so happy now and I miss you!” It was at that moment that Ms Lye felt so touched and she knew she had made the right decision to volunteer at MDOP.

 

Every person can make a difference and every person should try. Too often, we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, the smallest act of caring, all of which can uplift a person and turn a life around. You can be the one to step forward and offer a hand. Let us do it together.

 

As Mother Theresa once said: “Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.”

 

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**If you would like to be a volunteer like Ms Mary Lye to help others, check out the various volunteering opportunities available here.

 

Source: RSVP Singapore. Reproduced with permission.